LOCKDOWN restrictions may have put paid to any chance of people in Helensburgh visiting the Maid of the Loch so far this summer.

But the charity which owns the famous ship has given the public – not just in Helensburgh, but around the world – a chance to enjoy a virtual cruise on Loch Lomond – at the same price it would have cost you when the ‘Maid’ was brand new.

The ship – the last paddle steamer to be built in Britain – made her first ever public cruise on the loch 67 years ago this week, on May 25, 1953.

And now the Loch Lomond Steamship Company (LLSC) are offering people the chance to re-create that magical day by stepping back in time and experiencing the joys of the Bonnie Banks at the Maid’s website.

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John Beveridge, chair of the Loch Lomond Steamship Company, said the venture was a way of raising desperately needed funds to keep the charity going, and the Maid’s restoration plans alive, while the ship is in lockdown and the charity has no other source of income.

He told the Advertiser: “Everyone is keen to escape the restrictions but aware not to endanger beauty spots. So we’ve decided to produce a virtual cruise on the loch and to celebrate the Maid’s 67th anniversary of her maiden voyage.

“By using archive photos and film from the 1950s, interspersed with colourful scenic views of Loch Lomond, we want to give a taste of what the first sailings on the Maid were like.

“We have included a route map and facts on places of interest that the Maid will pass on her cruise.”

The journey is based on leaving Glasgow by steam train to Balloch and a cruise on the Maid to Ardlui at the head of the loch.

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The fare in 1953 was 9/- (nine shillings) for a day return from Glasgow.

At today’s rate the equivalent cost works out at £12.50, including VAT.

“We are hoping for a sell-out cruise!” Mr Beveridge added.

“The Maid could carry 1,000 passengers, so it would be brilliant if people could book a ‘ticket’ via the online shop on our website at www.maidoftheloch.org and we could fill the ship.

“All income raised from this will be a badly needed boost for the charity.”

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Built at the yard of A. & J. Inglis in Pointhouse, Glasgow – close to the site of today’s Riverside Museum – the Maid was dismantled and transported piece-by-piece to Balloch before being reassembled in time for her maiden voyage in the early summer of 1953.

She took hundreds of day-trippers on cruises up and down the loch for 28 years until she was decommissioned in 1981, as more and more Scots opted to take their summer holidays overseas.

The ship was bought by Dumbarton District Council in 1992 and sold to the LLSC’s volunteers four years later.

She underwent a £1.1 million refit in 2019 which saw her engines fired into life last October, for the first time in 38 years.

But the coronavirus lockdown has left the ship facing an uncertain future – and Mr Beveridge warned last month that she needed an immediate injection of funds to survive.

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